A Comeback Cut Short: My Journey Back to Competition and the Road Ahead

In early 2025, I decided I really wanted to compete this year, so I did a local in-house competition to qualify for the USAW Masters Nationals that took place the first weekend of April. I hadn’t competed in 3 years, and hadn’t even been taking Olympic Weightlifting seriously. I barely trained all of 2024 and instead dove into riding my horse in the mountains and on trails.  

Because I am an Olympic Weightlifting Coach, and my job is Olympic Weightlifting all day, every day, it is hard sometimes for me to use training as an outlet. I needed something totally different from being in a gym with a barbell, and decided a major reset was a non-negotiable for my mental health. I did NOT go back to training until I was 100% committed, excited, motivated, and most importantly, ready to do it for myself.

Committing to compete again

A competition was just what I needed, and I wanted to get back to a solid training routine, set goals for myself, and get something to work towards. I didn’t give myself much time, roughly 6 weeks to prepare. BUT when you have been lifting for 30 years, it all comes back pretty quickly, OR SO I THOUGHT! 

At the young and spry age of 48, I realized quickly I should have given myself more time, even if it was a couple more weeks, I wasn’t the spring chicken I was the last time I competed at 45. Regardless, I worked REALLY HARD for those 6 weeks with so much focus, control, and confidence. The week of the meet, I felt unbelievably confident and prepared. I felt great mentally and physically. I knew what I could do, and I was excited to go after it.

Where my nerves really come from

Was I nervous? OF COURSE! Despite the fact that I have been lifting and competing for more than half my life, I still get nervous. VULNERABLE TALK HERE - the nerves don’t come from me feeling unprepared, or from doubting my abilities. I really am a confident lifter, BUT I get nervous because I don’t want to let anyone down. 

I work really hard to WALK MY TALK, and I want to show people that despite nearing 50, it can be done.

As a woman, it is important to me to be a role model and inspire others so that they can do anything they set their minds to. I want to show my athletes that I am willing to put in the work I ask of them.

My nerves come from not performing well and being a disappointment, or for people to think I don’t actually PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH. Or worst-case scenario, people won’t trust me as a coach if I don’t perform well. It is silly, I know. I am human, and not perfect, and will have competitions that go amazingly and poorly and everything in between, just like every other competitor in the world.

Anyway, back to the competition. I had a GREAT day leading up to my time to lift. I slept well the night before, I weighed in perfectly, I had zero anxiety, and I was feeling really excited. My warmups all went amazingly—my body felt great, my movement felt controlled and consistent and EASY, and I couldn’t have asked for them to feel any better!! During my warmups, I was thinking, ‘ohhhhhh ya. I feel so good; this is going to be a great day!”. I was honestly so happy and motivated and truly ready to get out on the platform.

The injury

On my opening snatch, I felt a pop in my left quad as I was pulling under the bar into my receiving position. I didn’t try to fight for the lift and stood up, knowing something was wrong. I was hoping it was just a leg cramp, but when I went out for my second lift, I couldn’t even put pressure on the leg. I told the officials something was wrong, and they called medical, and I withdrew from the competition.

Examination and ultrasound showed I had torn my upper Vastus Lateralis. I was in so much pain, so disappointed, embarrassed, and just so sad. I really had goals for that meet, and worked so hard to be prepared. It was an absolute fluke injury, I had no prior quad pain or even pulling. My quads have always been healthy! Just a total, unexpected and unexplainable bizarre accident.

All I could think as they were taking care of me was, well, my comeback just got cut short, AND I wonder how long until I can train again.

Bouncing back, slowly but surely

Fast forward three weeks, and I feel better each day. My recovery is going faster than I could have imagined. I feel optimistic and grateful that the injury wasn’t worse, and I am more excited than ever to get healthy and strong so that I can prepare for the Masters World Championships in December. 

It was so important for me to be in the gym each of my training days as if I hadn’t been injured, not only because I want to be tenacious in my pursuit of my goals by the end of the year, BUT because I worked hard to get back in to a training routine, to believe in myself again, and to WANT to be with the barbell. I knew that if I didn’t go into the gym for weeks, getting myself back in there would be nearly impossible. So, I started small, with successories and really anything I could do. 

Each day, I progressed a bit more, and I am happy I am staying consistent in my recovery.

I have had to take 10 steps back, and have to scale everything. But remember this: SCALING IS NOT FAILING. While working through this injury to my quad, I am still not able to do a lot of things. But instead of focusing on all the things I am unable to do, I am focusing on the things that I CAN DO.

Scaling is not failing

Injuries are really hard and can be a struggle mentally and physically. The process can feel miserably tedious and frustrating. Right now, SHOWING UP and doing what I can do is not only helping me mentally, but it is helping me stay in a routine, it is helping me maintain my movement, build confidence, and build a foundation in which I’m going to be able to build upon when I am fully healed.

Each day, I warm up, test my leg and see how it is feeling, and work on prehab stuff given to me by a physical therapist. I do everything at technical weights, approximately 30-40%. I reduced the volume, and I make adjustments. Example: cleans still hurt and make me very nervous, so I do power cleans! Then the next day, I may try a clean with a barbell. If I feel any pain, I know I am not ready for that yet. I will try various movements as I am creating my workout for myself for the day, and I follow my RULES when choosing what I can do.

My personal rules for recovery

Here are the rules I have made for myself:

• If anything hurts, stop. This means any sharp pain, pulling or ripping sensation where I tore my quad or in surrounding areas, or discomfort that doesn’t feel manageable.
• If I feel tightness or pressure, I proceed carefully and controlled. I do not move up in weight!
• Technique weights only. No moving up in weight and potentially having to strain. This means no going over 50% and being INTENTIONAL with my movement— if I can only do 30%, it’s going to be the best 30% of my life.
• If I am changing my movement, favoring that leg, or “looking for the pain”, I stop.
• Introduce only one new movement a day. This way, if I have any pain following that workout, I am able to better identify what irritated the injury.
• Do NOT, under any circumstances, get GREEDY!

Looking ahead    

I believe that this injury happened for a reason, and while I may not know that reason yet, good things are coming for me on the road ahead. When I know where this road leads me, maybe I'll let you know in another Blog post.

Stay Strong

Aimee

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